Automata winding apparatus for railway-signals



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w. W. GARY"; Automatic Winding Apparatus for Ra-i1way S igna1s.- No.240,696; I Patented April 26,1881.

Wfimssesi Xxwmvwz N. PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WESLEY W. GARY, of Boston, county of Suffolk, andState of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement inAutomatic Winding-Apparatus for Railway-Signals, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification.

My invention relates to an automatic winding apparatus forrailway-signal mechanism.

In another application filed October 1,1880, 1 have described anautomatic winding apparatus operated by the wheels passing over anddepressing a treadle acting against the force of a spring which vibratedthe saidtreadle and connected mechanism back in the opposite directionas soon as the wheel had passed. By this means a vibrating movement wasproduced, and by suitable mechanism was caused to transmit a rotarymovement in one direction to a winding-shaft to wind the weight orspring.

My present invention has for its object to enable the wheels to producedirectly a rotary 25 movement in one direction in a shaft placed on theroad-bed near the rails. The said shaft is provided with anactuating-drum placed close by the rail of the track, and the said drumis provided with radial wings, extended beyond its periphery in positionto be successively struck by the wheels of the passing train, and movedthereby to rotate the said drumand connected shaft. The periphery of thesaid drum lies wholly below the level of the top of the rail, and thewings are so placed that one of them will always extend above-the saidlevel, so that as a wheel passes its tread will strike the said wing,carrying it forward and rotating the said drum until the said wing isbrought down to the level of the top of the rail, and in this movement asucceeding wing is brought above the said level to be struck and turnedin the same manner by the succecding wheel. The said wings are pivotedto the said drum in such manner that they will turn independentlythereof in one direction, they then folding down within the periphery ofthesaid drum, and in such movement acting against a spring whichnormally retains o the said win gs, extended radially fromthesaid WESLEYw. GARY, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMA% WINDING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY-SIGNALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,696, dated April26, 1881. Application filed October I, 1880. (No model.) A I directionto that previously described, by which the drum and shaft are rotated,they, in acting on the said wings, merely fold them down upon theperiphery of the said drum without causing it or the connected shaft torotate. The movement is transmitted from this rotating shaft to awinding shaft or drum to wind the actuating weight or spring, and whenthe said weight is wholly wound the rotating shaft is arranged to beoperated by the wheels with out further rotating the said winding shaftor drum. This is done in this instance in the following manner: The mainshaft, rotated by the wheels, is provided with a winding-cylinder, uponwhich, as the said shaft is rotated by the wheels, a cord is wound,which may be called the winding-cord, it being at the same time unwoundfrom a winding-drum, which may be a barrel containing a spring, or, asherein shown, has a weight-suspending cord wound upon it in the oppositedirection to the winding-cord, so that in the rotation of thewinding-drum, as the windingcord is unwound, as before described, theweight-suspending cord is wound and the weight elevated, and when theweight falls in actuating the mechanism it causes the main shaft torotate back inthe opposite direction to that in which it was turned bythe wheels. The winding cord is connected at its end with thewinding-drum bya yielding or elastic connector, so that when itis whollyunwound-at which time the weight is wholly wound up--the further tensionof the winding-cord merely stretches the said connector without turningthe drum; andas soon as a wheel has passed to turn the actuatingdrum andstretch the said'connector the latter, by its elasticity, turns the saiddrum back, so that as the remaining wheels pass thesaid actuatingdrumand main shaft merely oscil late back and forward under the alternateac-' tion of each wheel and the flexible connector. Figure 1. is a sideelevation of an automatic winding apparatus, the rails being shown insection; Fig. 2, adetail, showing. the drum audits wings in position,tolbe engaged and rotated by a passing wheel; Fig. 3, asimilar detail,showing the operation when the wheel passes in the opposite directionand depresses 10:

the wing without rotating the drum; Fig. 4,

drum. When the wheels passin the opposite a side viewof the said drumdetached, and

wholly wound up Figs. 5, 6, 7,8, details illustrating the operation ofthe mechanism to prevent overwindin g.

The main sh aft a, connected with the sleeper or other suitableframe-work on the road-bed, has rigidly connected thereto at one end anactuating-drum, I), provided at its periphery with flanges b, which lieclose beside and just below the level of the top of the rail 0. The saidactuating-drum b has a series of wings, (I, pivoted between the flangesb on pins 3, and operated upon by springs 0, shown as spiral springscoiled around the said pins 3 and tendin g to turn the said wings on thesaid pins in the direction of the arrow 4, Fig. 3, the said wings beingheld in a substantially radial position under the action of the saidsprings by the e11- gagement of their lower corner, 5, with thecylindrical surface of the said drum Z). The opposite lower corners ofthe said wings (I are rounded, as shown in Figs. 2' and 3, to allow themto be turned against the action of the springs 0 down upon the peripherof the drum b, between the flanges b b thereon, as shown in Fig. 3, whenthe upper one of the said wings, normally held in the position shown indotted lines by the spring 6, is shown in full lines as turned down bythe wheelf passing in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, over the rail0.

A winding-cylinder, g, is secured upon the main shaft a, and a windingcord, h, fastened at one end to the said cylinder, is coiled around itand extended to and coiled around a winding-drum, 2', so that as it iswound upon the cylinder g it is unwound from the drum i, causin g thesaid drum to rotate in the operation.

A suspending-cord, l, connected at one end with the winding-drum 'i, andsupporting at its other end a weight, w, is adapted to be wound upon thesaid drum tin the opposite direction to the winding-cord h, so that asone of the said cords is wound the other one is unwound. Thewinding-cord h is connected at its end with the winding-drum 2' by ayieldin g or elastic connector, (shown in Figs. 1 and 8,) as a flatspring, m, passing about a portion of the periphery of the said drum,and normally held separated therefrom by its elasticity, and in Figs. 5,6, and 7, as a spiral spring, m, passing radially out from a point ofattachment near the middle of the said drum, and when the winding cord his wholly unwound from the drum m, as shown in Figs. 1, 6, and 7, anyfurther strain on the said cord merely operates against the elasticforce ofthe said spring withoutanyfurther tendencyto turn the'said drum,the weight 10 being at this time and brought against a stop, a, on theframe-work.

vIn operation, when a wheel, f, passing in the direction of the arrow,Fig. 2, meets one of the wings d, it presses the said wing forward anddownward to the level of the rail, and in so doing rotates the drum 7)and connected shaft to in the direction of the arrow therein, as in Fig.2, and brings the next wing up in position to be struck by the nextwheel. Should this latter wing be brought forward so quickly as toitself meet the tread of the wheel on the rear side, it will merely beturned back on its pivot 3, the spring 0 thereof yielding to allow thismovement. In this manner as the wheels follow one another each turns theactuating-drum b and shaft to through the angular space between two ofthe said wings, and the rotary motion is imparted to the shaft to andcylinder 9 thereon in the proper direction to wind the cord it upon saidcylinder, thereby rotating the drumz' and winding the cordl therein toraise the weight w. YVhen the said weight is raised sufficiently to meetthe stop a, the cord h is wholly unwound from the drum i, and thefurther movement of the shaft a and cylinder 9 to wind the cord h 011the said cylinder has no further tendency to rotate the drum *5, thespring at or m then yielding, asshown in Fig. 7, to allow the cord h tobe wound on the drum g, while a wheel is passing and partially rotatingthe shaft a, the said spring acting by its elastic force to rotate theshaft a back again as soon as a wheel has passed the wing d, and beforea succeeding wheel has time to act upon the next wing. WVhen a trainpasses in the opposite direction, as shown in Fig. 3, it merely operatesupon the said wings to turn them down below the level of the rail ontheir pivots 3 without turning the said drum, its ment of the shaft tobeing greater than that of the springs c to the movement of the wings dwhen acted upon on their rear sides.

This arrangement is suitable for either a single or double track road,since on a singletrack road there will be suflicient traffic passing ineither one direction to keep the signalactuating weight or springsproperly wound.

The drum 2' may be connected with any sort of signal mechanism in anyusual way to properly actuate it.

I claim 1. In an automatic winding mechanism for railway-signals, anactuating-drum placed beside the track, combined with a series of wingson the said drum, projecting above the level of the rails, to besuccessively struck by the treads of the passing wheels, gressive rotarymotion to the said drum and thereby wind an actuator, substantially asdescribed.

2. The main shaft and drum thereon having projections to be successivelystruck by the wheels of a passing train, to progressively rotate thesaid shaft, combined with mechanism connected with the said shaft,whereby the said rotary movement is transmitted to an actuator to windit, and after it is wholly wound is inoperative on the said actuator, toprevent injury to the mechanism from overwinding, substantially as andfor the purpose described.

3. In an automatic winding mechanism for railway-signals, the main shaltand its actuating-drum, combined with the wings pivoted on the saiddrum, and springs to normally retain the said wings in a positionsubstantially friction or resistance to the move to impart aproing-drunr by a yielding or elastic connector, whereby, when unwoundfrom the said drum, it operates to strain the said connector with- 15out further rotating the drum, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WESLEY W. GARY.

Witnesses:

J os. P. LIVERMORE, ARTHUR REYNoLDs.

